Earthquake early warningCongressional funding allows partial roll-out of Calif. seismic early warning system
California officials applauded the U.S. Senate approval of the $1.1-trillion spending package, which allocated $5 million to fund expansion of the state’s earthquake early-warning system dubbed ShakeAlert.In 2015, a select number of schools will receive earthquake alerts to warn students and teachers to drop and cover before shaking begins, fire stations will be alerted to open their garage doors before electricity goes out and prevents doors from opening, and some hospitals will receive notice to suspend surgeries.
Officials with California’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) applauded the U.S. Senate approval of the $1.1-trillion spending package, which allocated $5 million to fund expansion of the state’s earthquake early-warning system dubbed ShakeAlert. Earthquake alerts are currently available to some researchers, private companies, and a few state agencies including the BART commuter rail system, but scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and ShakeAlert program want to make the system available to schools, fire stations, and more private businesses in 2015. Doing so will allow researchers to gather more data to identify errors and improve the system before making it available to the general public.
According to the Los Angeles Times, in 2015, a select number of schools will receive earthquake alerts to warn students and teachers to drop and cover before shaking begins, fire stations will be alerted to open their garage doors before electricity goes out and prevents doors from opening, and some hospitals will receive notice to suspend surgeries.
ShakeAlert detects earthquakes using the California Integrated Seismic Network of roughly 400 ground motion sensors which identify primary waves (P-waves) as they move through the Earth at almost twice the speed of the earthquakes’ destructive S-waves, which shake the ground. Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and some other countries have been using early-warning systems for some years, but California’s adoption of the technology has been hampered by funding issues which slowed the installation and upgrades of sensors. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) called the $5 million in funding “a down payment,” but said “more funding is necessary to complete the system.” “We must get it done before the next major earthquake strikes,” Feinstein said in a statement.
Doug Given, earthquake early-warning coordinator for the USGS, explains that $16.1 million a year is needed to build and maintain ShakeAlert for California, Oregon, and Washington State. Scientists will need to more than double the existing network of 400 sensor stations by adding new sensors in areas outside of Southern California, with an additional 275 sensor stations in Oregon and Washington.
Representative Adam Schiff (D-California) has urged state governments and local businesses to contribute toward the project. “I only hope we can get this done before we have a major earthquake,” Schiff said. “We’ve been derelict, even though the technology is being pioneered here. It’s something we really need to put into effect.”
OES spokesman Brad Alexander said there are some private firms which would contribute to maintaining a stable and reliable ShakeAlert system. Some technology firms may want to rely on the ShakeAlert network to develop mobile earthquake early-warning applications for smartphone users, but the private sector is waiting for more testing and an elaborate roll out of the system.
